1. Technical Field
This invention relates to maintaining an optimal fan rotation speed for a CPU. More specifically, both hardware and software measurements are used in determining the optimal fan rotation speed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electronic equipment produces an excess thermal output, that, if not properly controlled and directed away from the equipment will affect operation and performance of the equipment. There are many different methods and appliances for dissipating heat from electronic equipment. For example, heat sink apparatus are attached to or positioned to rest upon a processor and to passively dissipate heat byproduct from the adjacent processor. There is an abundant quantity of heat sink apparatus available in which different fin structures of the heat sink may affect the heat dissipating abilities of the heat sink. Some heat sink apparatus passively dissipate heat, and others actively dissipate heat by use of a fan or similar mechanism. The fan speed associated with the fan adjacent to the heat sink may be static, or in some cases may be dynamic. In the case of a dynamic fan speed, the speed of the fan is adjusted based upon temperature sensor data. However, as processor frequencies increase so does the excess thermal output from the processor. A passive heat sink may not sufficiently be able to effectively dissipate heat. Similarly, an active heat sink may be able to dissipate the heat if it could adjust the fan speed based upon accurate and current data. Accordingly, there is a need for control of rotational speed of a fan(s) used to dissipate heat from electronic equipment based upon accurate, current, and appropriate data.
Two known solutions are illustrated in Japanese Publication No. 2000-349477 to Gohei and Japanese Abstract 11-184566 to Tsukasa et al. In both Gohei and Tsukasa et al., the objective is to attain a response corresponding to fan speed that is more sensitive than temperature data. An ammeter is used in both Gohei and Tsukasa et al. to obtain power consumption data, where the power consumption data is directly converted to a corresponding fan speed. However, there are drawbacks with use of the ammeter for addressing thermal output. One such drawback is that the use of power consumption data to control fan speed results in hyper sensitive readings which produce rapid changes in fan speed control which increases noise associated with frequent fan speed adjustments. Another drawback associated with use of an ammeter includes the requirement for an additional hardware component that in itself has a thermal output. The ammeter is a contributing factor to the corresponding fan speed. Accordingly, the prior art provides a solution to controlling fan speed that has limitations associated therewith.
There is therefore a need to provide optimum control of excess thermal output from electronic equipment that does not require an additional hardware component.